


Skyfall - Flarke AU

by spxcewvlker



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Post-Apocalypse, Clarke Griffin and Wells Jaha Friendship, Endgame Finn Collins and Clarke Griffin, F/M, Flarke, Flarke is OTP, Fluff and Smut, Mention of Jactavia, Mention of Jaya, Minor Rellamy, Modern AU, Post-Apocalypse, minor Linctavia
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-14
Updated: 2016-11-05
Packaged: 2018-08-08 16:01:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 13,360
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7764145
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spxcewvlker/pseuds/spxcewvlker
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>this is the end<br/>hold your breath and count to ten<br/>feel the earth move and then<br/>hear my heart burst again</p><p>_</p><p>Clarke Griffin watched the world crumbling in front of her eyes and felt hopeless. The next morning, a new adventure awaited her. </p><p>_</p><p>let the skyfall<br/>when it crumbles<br/>we will stand tall<br/>face it all together<br/>at skyfall</p><p>_</p><p> S K Y F A L L ;</p><p>      verb; transitive<br/>to make a last stand against a group of people when outnumbered and on your own turf.<br/>or in other words, standing up for the things we love, and for what is right even though others won't necessarily agree.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. if i lose everything in the fire

_**Saturday, 10:46 AM** _

 

Clarke's fingers hovered over the blank page that was on the blueish quilt covering the bed. Her eyebrows furrowed lightly as she finally pressed the pen she was holding against the paper, trailing it down and ending her move in a curve. She smiled at the result, proud to have finally managed to draw the perfect line after all of her attempts. Five minutes later, her drawing was taking the shape of the face of a woman, having similar features to the girl herself. She was going to keep drawing, until the phone laying next to her vibrated, hinting someone texted her. Her eyes immediately flew on the screen, only to discover a message from Wells, her best friend, asking if she was free to hang out.

"Clarke, are you coming?" A feminine voice then called from downstairs.

Pulled out of her thoughts, the blonde girl quickly closed her drawing pad and shoved it into her bag, along with the pen she used to draw with. It was an old pen, and it held a heavy backstory. Her dad, Jake Griffin, had given it to her when she was only a kid for her 7th birthday. Seeing how much arts captivated his daughter, he thought getting her a pen from his trip in Africa would please her; and it did. She had never used it before, but today was different. Today marked the one year death 'anniversary' of her father — if we could call that an anniversary, — and she missed him too much. A year ago, she woke up to her mother in tears, still holding the phone. As the minutes passed she managed to understand what had been happening, and learned that her father died in a shooting happening in San Fransisco, which also brought death to 12 other citizens. He was on a business trip for a week, and she would never understand why her father was taken away from her by the unfairest way. _Why did he have to be there the exact day of the shooting?_

Without waiting any longer, Clarke picked up her phone and went on hers and Wells's conversation.

 **Clarke:** _I can't I'm sorry, going out with my mom this afternoon :|_

 **Wells:** _that's alright, prom dress shopping? ;)_

 **Clarke:** _hah hah, yes, wish me luck!_

She typed, before making the screen go black again. "I'm coming!" She yelled from her room, putting on a pale blue fabric jacket. She grabbed her bag as she made her way out of her room, tossing it behind her shoulders. Once she got downstairs, she headed to the kitchen, where her mom sat around the table to sip a cup of coffee.

"Good morning," Clarke mumbled, not necessarily wanting to get involved in a conversation with her mother on this particular day. She usually wouldn't mind, but today was too painful to possibly talk about something related to her father. And knowing Abby, her mother, she was positive she would mention him at least once.

As Clarke was making herself cereals, Abby spoke. "How are you today, sweetie?"

"When are we leaving?" The blonde shortly replied.

Abby stared at her daughter some more, understanding her new founded attitude of this morning before glancing down to her watch. "What about 11?"

"Eleven sounds good to me." Clarke said, pouring milk in her bowl. When she was done, she turned around and sat in front of her mother, keeping her eyes glued onto the containing of her plate.

In all honestly, she felt like her entire body suffocated. She couldn't really think about something that wasn't her father, but every memories felt like a sharp blade slicing across her chest. And today was the day that she was going to get her prom dress, something her dad kept seeing as a father/daughter activity. So how was she supposed to suppress the thought of her father from her mind?

 

**3 YEARS AGO**

 

_"And the guy who'll take you to prom is better ask me permission first!" Her father teased, his eyes sparkling with life._

_"Come on, dad! I won't let any guys come here with you around, anyways." Clarke playfully replied, her lips curving to a smile as her eyes met with her father's._

_"Well that was a bit harsh from you, young woman!" He laughed before reaching forward in attempt of playfully enveloping her daughter with his arms._

_Clarke couldn't stop laughing, soon fighting to fill her lungs with fresh air again._

 

**PRESENT**

 

"Clarke, it's almost 11."

Her mother's voice pulled her out of her mind, and soon felt her eyes filling with water. She stood from her chair and gave her mom a quick nod before leaving to the bathroom.

As soon as she got there, she locked the door behind her and faced the mirror, leaning her hands on each sides of the counter. Her cheeks soon coloured with a bright shade of red, and her throat immediately squeezed. She closed her eyes as a tear rolled down her cheeks, desperately trying to hold in a sob. It was so painful to think about him, the man who used to read her bedtime stories before whispering a soft ' _goodnight princess, sweet dreams_ ' in her ear every nights. The man who helped her with her homework, the one who would take her to arts expositions whenever there was one in town. Her father was her role model, he was the person she aspired to be like. But she didn't know he would have been snatched away from her so quickly. Mostly not from the conditions he died.

Once she made sure she calmed down, Clarke wiped her eyes and took a deep breath, heading back to the kitchen. And then, just when she was about to fully enter the room, she heard muffled sobs. She was positive they belonged to her mom as they were the only two occupying the house. For the first time in a while, the thought occurred to her that she wasn't the only one suffering from the loss of her father, and that maybe today was not only hard for her, but also for her mother. As much as she didn't want to introduce her mother's privacy, Clarke decided to step further, immediately spotting her mom standing against the counters, her face shoved in her hands.

"Mom...?" Clarke gently asked, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder.

As soon as Abby felt her daughter's presence, she wrapped her arms around Clarke, burying her head onto her shoulder. The both of them stood there for a while, small sobs still escaping Abby's mouth. She didn't plan to break down in front of her daughter, but one year was obviously not enough to to get over things.

"I'm... I'm sorry..." She apologized, suddenly feeling ashamed that Clarke had to watch her like that.

"Mom, it's okay... It's okay..." She replied, squeezing her arms tighter around her mother when she felt a wave of grief getting in her.

Abby nodded as she pulled away, staring into Clarke's blue eyes. "Okay..." She whispered, placing a hand around Clarke's face and touched her skin tenderly. "I'm so proud of you, sweetie." A small smile then appeared on her lips.

Her smile reflected onto Clarke's face, and the two of them hugged once again before getting ready to leave the house.

 

**_Saturday, 11:13 AM_ **

 

Clarke wandered down the hallways of the shop, the one where she would be buying her prom dress. The big day was only in one month, and nobody had yet asked her to prom. But she wasn't really worried with this at all, she preferred to focus on her studies instead of getting involved with boyfriends and ending up getting her heart broken by one of them. It had recently happened to one of her good friends, Maya, when Jasper, her boyfriend, broke up with her to be with one of the most popular girls at school, Octavia Blake. Everyone wanted to date Octavia, but when you were the lucky one, it wouldn't even last a week. And so a week ago, Clarke found Maya in tears at school, and listened to her boyfriend problems. Once again, Clarke felt thankful to be single, instead of having to deal with those problems.

Her eyes scanned every dresses, the colourful ones getting her attention the most. A small smile drew on her face when she spotted a blue ocean one, the top almost entirely covered with bright and small jewels. "Mom, look at-" Clarke's voice trailed off as she turned around to find her mom, who wasn't there. But after a while, she realized that not only her mom wasn't there, but the entire shop was deserted. When her eyes found the huge front window, she noticed how a lot of people were rushing across the street to get to the small electronic shop there. Confused and intrigued why all of these people were hurrying down there, Clarke decided to head outside the doors and walked across the road as well, soon adding to the enormous crowd gathered in front of the small building. People seemed horrified, and they were all chattering and murmuring inaudible things to each other. Soon, her eyes found her mom, who was one of the first to stand in front of the large window. Clarke made her way through the crowd with difficulty before reaching her mother, whose eyes were glued onto the huge tv screen that had been placed against the window of the store. She followed her mother's eyes onto the screen, more confusion getting into her.

Many different sceneries of forests ravaged with fire and towns in flames were showing, with reporters from around the world reporting news about their countries or cities conditions. In Paris, for example, an enormous earthquake had occurred a few minutes ago, burying a large part of the city underground. And then, they showed images of the Eiffel Tower that was crumbling down in pieces. Clarke's brows furrowed as the screen from the reporter from Paris went black, leaving the others reporter's faces in shock. " _We lost contact, there are a lot of interferences due to the events happening right now in Paris!_ "

A low quality video then showed up on the screen that was from India, representing citizens running away in different directions, trying to avoid fire balls falling from the sky. The person broadcasting the video was probably hidden under some sort of shelter, along with other citizens.

After that, Clarke worriedly glanced at her mother, who reflected the same look in her eyes.

"Mom, what the hell is happening..." Was the only thing Clarke managed to say.

"Look..." Abby replied, pointing her finger over to the screen, which represented New York, or at least what was left from New York. " _The biggest hurricane ever recorder in all history of the United States of America has just occurred in the city of New York..._ " The camera then switched to an interview with a young man from a part of New York that hadn't been ravaged. " _It's the fucking apocalypse, man!_ " The man said, before the image switched back to the news reporter. " _The meteorologists have specified that there was nothing that could've been hinting what was coming, we can't tell you how many dead it created yet but our reporters are working on — Wait, we just received new informations! A rain of fire seems to have gotten here as well; every citizens remaining of New York City must hide in a underground shelter! I repeat, every citizens of New York City must hide under a metal shelter!_ "

This time, the entire screen went black, and the people gathered around the store began to chatter louder. Clarke's heart skipped a beat as she felt her mother's hand gripping her sleeve, pulling her away from the crowd.

"Mom what's-"

"We need to get home, Clarke! Get in the car!" Abby shouted, her voice trembling.

Clarke nodded and hurried in the car, trying to steady her respirations. It's not every days she would see the entire world crumbling in front of her eyes.

 

**_Saturday, 11:58 AM_ **

 

Their car drove off the parking lot, and Abby clenched her foot on the gas pedal. The atmosphere was soaked in silence, but their minds were too occupied by fear and worries to say anything.

"Mom, New York is by far 4 hours away from Washington DC..." Clarke looked at her mother, horrified. "Four hours away from our home!" She added with a louder tone when she noticed how Abby was remaining silence.

After a short moment, her mother opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out. The last thing Clarke saw when she looked back in front of her was a car dangerously nearing theirs, and the sound of metal crashing together and windows breaking soon followed. After that, everything went black.


	2. i walked for miles till i found you

_**Sunday, 8:23 AM** _

 

_Cold._

Cold and pain. Those were the two things the blonde girl was thinking about. Her eyes were closed, so she couldn't see anything. But in all honestly, she was scared to open them. Because she remembered what happened too well.

The car crashing into theirs. The front window crumbling in pieces in a loud hollow sound. The big shock her body felt during the impact.

When it was too hard to keep her eyes shut, she opened them wide, and glanced all around. First, she saw the day light blinding her sight, but after a while, colours and lines began to fill the shapes surrounding her. It was just like when she was drawing the lines of a landscape, before she would add the colours. Before she would add water in the paint.

At first, she recognized nothing. But as soon as she sat up, she recognized the pale purple colour covering the walls of her bedroom, and then her fingers found the familiar texture the quilt of her bed had. She exhaled deeply, for a few seconds hoping that maybe everything that had been happening was only a terrible nightmare. But when she sat up, she felt an intense pain coming from her head, before reaching her hand up and touching a large bandage covering her forehead. Her heart skipped a beat when she tried to move her other arm but immediately felt a sharp pain coming from it, which reminded her of the pain she had been feeling when she broke her arm in fourth grade.

Suddenly, she heard footsteps nearing her bedroom. She felt her heart stumbling across her chest, pounding to a pace she didn't know a heart could beat. After several seconds, she tried to calm down. It was probably only her mom checking in to see if everything was okay with her. After all, her mother was a doctor and she wouldn't have been surprised to see that she would've gotten out of this car crash without any bruises.

But instead of her mother, she saw a young man holding a pile of white blankets entering her room. As soon as she saw him, Clarke backed up on her bed and her eyes opened wider. She ignored the aching pain all over her body, the only thing she could think about was to get away from this face she swore she had seen before, but couldn't remember from where.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," The boy told her as he stepped further into her room, putting the pile of blankets down on her bed.

Clarke kept backing away from the stranger, until he right arm met with air instead of the fabric of her blanket. A few seconds after, she found herself meeting with the hard wooden floor of her room. Thankfully, her bed wasn't too high from the floor to injure herself.

The boy immediately hurried to the other side of the bed, where she now sat in a ball, hugging her knees with her arm that wasn't broken. He offered her his arms, but she only stared at him with eyes that threw glares. "Who the hell are you?!" She asked, feeling fear overtaking her body.

He stepped back a bit, not wanting to scare her more than what she already was. "I'm Finn, Finn Collins. You... You don't have to be scared of me, Clarke. I just want to help you, okay?"

Clarke's brows furrowed, trying to ignore the fact that his face was slightly too familiar to her eyes. "How.. How do you know my name...?"

"We went to the same high school... We even had a few classes together, but I wouldn't be surprised if you wouldn't remember me." He said, referring to the fact that she was spending all of her free times either drawing or listening to her friends.

She watched him, this time letting her eyes stare into the beautiful brown shade of his, somehow filled with life. His messy dark brown hair covered part of his forehead, and suddenly she had a flash of him from last week walking across the library with Jasper Jordan by his side, both being held by a teacher by the shoulders. She recalled how they had been sharing a short stare that day, before the teacher angrily yelled at Finn and ranted about how immature it was to put firecrackers in a library. She also recalled how Maya had gripped her arm firmly to rant about how of a twat Jasper was.

In all honestly, Clarke secretly thought Finn looked quite handsome. But she couldn't let herself being distracted by that quite now. "Why firecrackers in a library?"

He chuckled, glad that she at least remembered him from something. "Ask Jasper, I was just caught with him." Finn explained with the hint of a smile on his lips, before offering Clarke his hands again.

This time, she reluctantly held up her arm for him. Once she was up, she stared at him some more before glancing away, rubbing her broken arm softly and obtaining a wince from it. "Why are you here?" She paused. "And where is my mom?"

Finn's smile regressed slightly and his brows furrowed as the question was asked, before glancing down to the pile of white blankets. "I was... Getting away, like everyone else, when I saw someone laying in the middle of the road, and that someone was you. So I pulled over and I just went to see if you were alive. When I got a heartbeat, I put you in my car, and decided to take you home." He paused as well, looking back at her. "But... Clarke, there was no one else. Just you."

Clarke frowned even more, slightly confused. She remembered the accident, the car crash. She remembered everything, so how could she have ended up in the middle of the road alone? "That's impossible..." She muttered. "I was involved in a car crash, with my mom and another car. So where the hell have they all went?"

Finn cluelessly looked at her, shrugging lightly. "I have no idea... Maybe the impact was too big and you got thrown away from your car. It would explain the huge scar on your forehead and your dislocated shoulder."

"Dislocated?" Clarke asked, raising her brows. "It's broken."

"Try telling that to the boy who spent half of his childhood in scout camps." Finn said, this time sitting down on the bed and motioned Clarke to do the same. "Come on, I'll fix you up."

Clarke stared at him, still deciding on whether she was going to trust him or not. After all, according to his story, he saved her life. She hesitantly sat next to him, looking down. "You don't look like the kind of boy who would go in scout camps," she pointed out, a small smile drawing on her lips at the thought of a smaller version of him exploring forests.

"You obviously don't know me very well, Clarke Griffin." He simply replied as their eyes locked. He then glanced at her shoulder and placed one of his hand on top of it, and the other around her arm. "Tell me when you're ready." Finn muttered, a slight smile on his lips.

"Is this going to hurt?" Clarke asked, somewhat worried. But for some reasons, she wanted to trust him.

"Well I can't tell you you'll like this, but you'll definitely feel better afterwards." He told her, before looking down at his fingers holding tight around her arm.

She watched him, feeling her heartbeat increasing again. She breathed deeply, giving him a short nod. "I'm ready."

 

**_Sunday, 9:00 AM_ **

 

Finn paced around the room, occasionally glancing at Clarke who laid down on her bed. He had followed every steps to properly relocate a shoulder, just like how he had learned in scouts. But for some reasons, Clarke had fainted, and he felt really responsible for that.

He hated to hear and watch people suffering, but this time he was the reason of someone's pain. And it wasn't anyone, it was Clarke Griffin, the girl he had been watching since ninth grade.

He remembered the first day he saw her entering arts class, she wore a blue dress decorated with white dots and her blonde hair was braided in a ponytail. That day, he had immediately fallen under her spell. He was only 14 years old at the time, but it was enough to make him unable to forget about her. Arts class was one of the few classes they shared. That and science. But obviously, she had never noticed him. She was too busy drawing, listening to the teachers, or to her friends. And he didn't blame her, he respected her too much for that. Although he recalled last week in the library, how they had been sharing a glance. How her lips curved to a small smile when the teacher yelled at him and Jasper, and how her cheeks tinted with a pale shade of pink.

But now she had fainted and he wasn't sure what he was supposed to do. He knew where Clarke lived because of the one time he had to drop Jasper at her house, where Maya had spend the day. So of course to find her house had not been a problem for him.

 

_**Sunday, 9:16 AM** _

 

Clarke's eyes flew open, before remembering everything that had been happening.

The Eiffel Tower falling in pieces, the fire balls in India, the hurricane in New York, the fire ravaged forests in Canada, and of course, the car crash where she got badly injured. And then she remembered that boy, Finn Collins. How he supposedly fixed her up.

She tried to move her arm, and surprisingly, it hurt a bunch less than earlier. And at least now she could move it. Meaning maybe Finn was right, maybe her shoulder was just dislocated.

But could all of this explain why she was found in the middle of the road by herself? Her mom must be somewhere, looking for her. And she knew she would probably have tried to contact her on her phone. In the seconds that followed, Clarke attempted to sit up, before hearing Finn's voice.

"Hey," he said as he sat down on her bed. His eyes were concernedly watching her. "How are you doing?"

"I'm... I'm fine." She replied as she shoved her hand in her pocket, where her phone was supposed to be. Furrowing her brows, Clarke looked up to Finn. "What did you do with my phone?"

Finn simply glanced to the nightstand on the side of the bed where he sat. "I put it there. But don't worry, I didn't try to look at anything, I was just-"

Clarke interrupted him by leaning forward, picking up her phone. Once it was in her hands, she opened it, discovering a bunch of texts from her friends. Most of them were from Wells, but there were none from her mom. Her heart clenched slightly, but quickly managed to calm down. Maybe her mother's phone was broken or out of battery, so there was nothing to worry about. Then, she read the texts from Wells.

[Yesterday, 11:15 AM] **Wells:** _shit, Clarke! did you see the news?!_

[Yesterday, 11:24 AM] **Wells:** _you still alive?_

[Yesterday, 11:26 AM] **Wells:** _wtf is happening?! man this shit is heading straight to Washington!_

[Yesterday, 12:00 PM] **_Wells:_** _great now another nuclear plant in Japan exploded. if you're not replying in 10 minutes I'm coming over to your house._

[Yesterday, 12:14 PM] **Wells:** _where the fuck are you seriously?! I came over to your house and nobody was home!_

It kept going that way for the rest of the day, but surprisingly, he hadn't texted her at all since 2 AM this morning. As her brows furrowed again, she looked up to Finn. "There's something wrong with Wells, I need to see him, he lives right next to my house." She informed as she attempted to stand, before feeling Finn pulling her arm softly.

"Wait, Clarke."

"What?"

"Um... You can't go out like that, you need something to hold up your arm." Finn explained, and somehow Clarke pierced a faint tone of worry in his voice. "That's why I brought the white blankets. To make you a sling." He explained.

Clarke exhaled deeply before rolling her eyes. "Fine, but hurry." She said, sitting back on the bed.

Finn couldn't help but grinned slightly as he watched her before taking one of the clothes. He reached closer to her and carefully placed her injured arm in the clothe, before wrapping up the two extremities around her neck. When he pulled away, he found her staring at a wall, her brows still furrowed.

"Thanks." She muttered, glancing down at the screen of her phone again, which was now black. "Great, I need to charge it." She grabbed the USB cable on the floor and plugged her phone in, waiting for the screen to light up. A few seconds had passed and still nothing was happening. Confused, she tried to open her phone again. "Maybe the plug is broken... I guess I'll charge it at Wells's house, then."

"Clarke, wait..."

She tilted her head. "What is it?"

Finn stood and walked up to her window, where the curtains were still closed. "You might wanna see by yourself."

Clarke hesitantly walked up to Finn, confused by his words. Once she reached her window, she spread the curtains wide open, expecting the bright light of the sun to blind her eyes. But surprisingly, the sky was covered with dark clouds, and there was nowhere the sun could be found. That's when her eyes pierced the flames destroying the forest across the field separating her house from the trees. Her mouth dropped and felt tears filling her eyes as she recalled the multiple times her father took her there to live some unforgettable adventures.

"Look," Finn said as he pointed over to the power lines, on which a huge tree had fallen, cutting the power for everyone in town. A lot of other houses and barns had been destroyed, and Clarke could only assume a tornado had stroke while she was asleep.

"What... What the hell happened here..." Clarke stuttered, feeling her entire world crumbling inside of her.

Finn stepped closer to her, his eyes not leaving her face. "Welcome to the apocalypse, Clarke."


	3. the darkness will fall

_**Sunday, 9:30 AM** _

 

Clarke shakily walked back to her bed, before sitting on it. Her eyes were glued on the wooden floor, and she didn't know what to think about. She tried to contain her thoughts, and mostly to remain calm. But with everything happening, it was almost impossible. Her fingers unconsciously gripped tight around her phone, wishing she could just wake up from this terrible nightmare.

"Hey..." Finn muttered as he hesitantly followed Clarke, standing still in front of her. He wasn't sure what to do, nor what to say to comfort her. Or if he was even supposed to do that.

"I need to find Wells," Clarke stated as she looked up to him, releasing a long sigh. She then shakily stood up and attempted to walk toward the door of her room, but she suddenly felt a lack of energy taking over her body. The world around her seemed to fall apart, before feeling strong arms catching her, just before her head could meet with the hard floor.

"Clarke, you're too weak... You need something to eat." Finn told her as his eyes stared down into hers, trying to put her back on her feet. When she managed to stand again, he placed his hands under her shoulders and glanced around in hope of finding the kitchen.

Clarke's brows furrowed as she felt Finn's arms around her, still deciding on whether she liked it or not. But too many things were still confused in her mind, and she had much more important things to think about. "No I'm okay, I need... I need to see Wells, to find out if he's okay..."

"Wells can wait, your body can't. You're going to faint again if you don't eat." Finn replied, giving her a stern look.

She rolled her eyes. "I won't, I can do this, Finn."

Finn watched her for a while, simply nodding as he realized she wouldn't give in so easily. After that, he began leading them out of her bedroom, and down the stairs. He held her tightly, making sure she wouldn't stumble on something on their way outside.

"You know, I can walk by myself." Clarke told him, looking straight in front of her as they were heading toward Wells's house. Thankfully, the tornado didn't seem to have destroyed her best friend's house, so there was still hope. But however, the air she was breathing seemed thick, somehow harder to breath than usual. She assumed it was due to the smoke from the fire.

"I know," Finn answered, not allowing the small smile to show. He slowly let go of her after a while and watched as she walked up to the porch of Wells's house.

Clarke turned the doorknob without even knocking, finding it rather strange that the door wasn't locked. "Come on," she motioned to Finn to follow her in the house.

Finn wandered around the house while following Clarke, letting his eyes looking all around him. Suddenly, he spotted different frames decorating the walls, on which he recognized Wells quite a few times. He had only seen him at school, but they had never really talked before. He also noticed how neat and huge the house was, before his eyes landed on the face of someone he wasn't expecting to see in one of the frames. "Wait, Wells is principal Jaha's son?!"

Clarke raised her brows. "Really, you've never connected the dots?" She paused as she glanced away, before yelling Wells's name all around the house. When she heard no answers, she looked over at Finn. "Would you mind to go check in the basement while I go upstairs? If we both find nothing, let's meet here. Got it?"

"Got it," Finn replied with a nod.

 

**_Sunday, 10:15 AM_ **

 

Finn walked down the stairs leading to the basement, feeling somehow uncomfortable to explore someone else's house he wasn't even friends with. But he figured in times like these, nobody really cared about that. After all he was on a sort of rescue mission, so it's not like he was doing anything wrong.

Once he got to the basement, he stepped further in the room, in hope of finding Wells. His eyes scanned the room and he attentively listened to every sounds. And then, he heard the sound of feet scratching against the cold cement floor, which sounded like someone trying to get away. His brows furrowed as he walked toward the place he heard the sound coming from, feeling his heart beating to a faster pace than earlier when he was with Clarke. He couldn't see much as there weren't a lot of windows decorating the walls of the basement, and as the electricity was out, there were no ways for him to see a thing.

"Wells?" He muttered, hoping that the person trying to get away was him.

"Who are you and what the hell are you doing in my house?!" A voice shouted from behind a bunch of objects stacked one on top of the other, and Finn could only assume the voice was Wells's.

"Hey, relax!" Finn replied as he held up his arms, proving that he wasn't armed. He assumed it was the right thing to do, at least that's what he recalled people would do in the movies he had watched before. "It's me, Finn."

"C...Collins?" Wells asked as he slowly walked out of his hiding place, his voice shaky. The only thing that was apparent on him were two bright circles we called eyes, which reflected the faint daylight piercing through the windows.

"Yeah, that would be me." Finn affirmed before tilting his head lightly. "Are you alright?"

Wells chuckled, this time completely walking out of the dark. Finn couldn't have known for sure, but he had a feeling a smile tugged the boy's lips apart at the sight of another human being. "Oh man, you have no idea how relieved I am to see someone else alive..." He placed a hand upon Finn's shoulder, releasing a long sigh of relief.

Finn smiled a little. "I'm with Clarke, she was worried about you."

Wells's face lighted up at the mention of his best friend, the girl he would've protected with his life. "Clarke's... Sh-She's alive?!" He stuttered, joy overwhelming his entire self.

Finn contented to nod, a smile drawing on his lips. Wells's happiness filled with some sort of hope, that maybe everything seemed much worse than what it actually was.

 

**_Sunday, 10:25 AM_ **

 

The two boys quickly escalated the stairs leading up to the living room. Wells's fingers clutched the phone laying in his pocket, the one which the screen turned black for an undetermined amount of time since 2 AM. He was excited to see Clarke, to find out what happened to her the past 24 hours. And then, a thought occurred to him. Why was Finn Collins, a boy Clarke wasn't even familiar with, would have been helping her in her searches to find him?

"Hey, how come are you helping Clarke?" He decided to ask, his brows furrowing slightly. "Like, how did you end up on her?"

Once they got in the living room, Finn glanced at him. "I was just-"

"Wells!" Clarke's joyful voice resonated from upstairs, before she carefully made her way to the living room. Once her feet touched the last step, she threw herself into Wells's arms, which closed tightly around her. "I was so worried about you!" She admitted, looking up to his eyes.

Wells smiled widely as she pulled away to look at her. "I thought you died in the storm or something..." He replied, managing to stop water to fill his eyes.

Finn watched them for a while before shoving his hands in his pockets, feeling slightly awkward. He was happy about the both of them reuniting, but it would only add more pain to the amount of what he was already carrying. The feeling of not knowing if the person he cared about the most died by his fault or not. He could still remember everything, and that was the most painful part.

 

**_The day before, 11:05 AM_ **

 

Finn laid on the couch, his eyes glued on his computer screen. He was trying to keep working on his homework, but a little voice kept distracting him.

"Finnnn! Finn pleaseeeee come chase butterflies with me!" It was the voice of Cassie, his little sister. Their parents had gone in town earlier in the day and he was meant to babysit his 7 years old sister. But of course, this had ruined his plans on taking the entire day to study.

He exasperatedly sighed before rolling his eyes. "I've already told you, I gotta study. Find something else to do."

"But pleaseeeee, not for long just a few minutes..." She begged, her big hazel eyes pleading.

Finn watched her some more before giving in with a small grin. "Alright, fine," he finally told her, shutting his laptop. "But only for a few minutes, okay?"

"Yay!!!!" Cassie exclaimed as she bounced around the house excitedly.

They both walked outside the house, Finn protectively holding Cassie's little hand.

 

**_The day before, 11:30 AM_ **

 

Finn glanced down to his watch as he leaned against a tree, and then up to the sky, noticing dark clouds beginning to cover the sun.

"Alright, Cassie?" He said, his eyes not leaving the sky. "We gotta get back, now." He finally glanced down when he heard no replies from his sister. With a frown, Finn looked all around him, only to find the place deserted. Nobody else occupied the park, and he started wondering where everyone else had suddenly gone. "Cassie?" He called again, feeling worries settling in him.

After a while, he got back to the entry of the park, his heart pumping fast through his chest. He had promised his parents he would look over his sister and that they would stay home. But he didn't respected his promise, and now he had lost Cassie. " _Please be okay..._ " He muttered to himself as his eyes scanned the surrounding, before landing on the street across the park, where he saw brown curls falling off the shoulders of a little girl wearing a pink dress.

" _CASSIE!_ " He yelled before dashing in her direction, fearing the worst. Just when he was about to cross the road, he stopped, his eyes not leaving the girl.

As she heard her name being called, Cassie stopped running as well and turned around, her eyes then meeting with Finn's.

The following seconds happened so fast, too fast. A car violently hit Cassie, the driver barely stopping the engine to make sure the little girl was fine. Then, the car drove off, soon exceeding again the speed limit.

Finn's world crumbled in front of his eyes during the impact, and the time he realized what had been happening, it was already too late. He hurried down toward Cassie's small body laying on the road, a puddle of blood expanding around her head. He immediately lifted her upper half up, ignoring the loud thunders and lightenings striking across the sky. Hot tears spilled from his eyes as he stared down in her lifeless opened eyes, before releasing a muffled sob. His fingers trembled and tightened around her, feeling overwhelmed with guilt and confusion. _He had done this. He let it happen._ And he would never have been able to forgive himself for it.

A loud thunder resonated through the sky, louder than what Finn had ever heard in his entire life. What followed afterwards was a strong and sudden wind, accompanied with rain, soon turning to hail. It's only when he looked at the field that he observed how the sky was merging with the ground, quickly forming a terrifying whirlwind heading straight toward him. Fear and despair filled his every cells as he got away from his sister's body, having no idea what the hell he was supposed to do. He was terrorized by so many things, and he just wanted to get away from this place.

So he ran home. Then, he jumped in the car his parents bought him for his 18th birthday, a few months ago. He clenched his foot on the gas pedal and drove away from his house, away from pain. And just like everyone else, he drove away from town and away from the storm.

Until his eyes spotted the blonde haired girl laying in the middle of the road.


	4. fear makes us really run around

**_Sunday, 10:40 AM_ **

 

Clarke pulled away from Wells's arms after a while, being relieved to see him alive in front of her. "Where's your dad?" She asked, remembering she had not seen him at all in the house since they were there.

Wells frowned as he glanced down, sighing lightly. "Our car was gone when I woke up yesterday morning, and my dad left a note in the kitchen saying he would be back in the afternoon of yesterday..." He paused, "but yeah he's not back so I can just assume the worst, I guess..." He trailed off.

"Wells... I'm sure your dad is fine, okay?" Clarke tried to comfort him, even though she had no idea herself if her own mom was alright.

"Anyways," Wells said as he looked back at Clarke, and then at Finn. "How did the two of you end up together?" He swallowed thickly, managing to contain his emotions inside. "Also what the hell happened to your head?" He asked when he noticed the large bandage covering Clarke's forehead.

"Well actually that's a long story," Clarke started before glancing at Finn, hoping that maybe he could help her out telling the story.

When Finn caught her eyes, he gave her a short nod and then looked over at Wells. "I'll tell you what happened, but first Clarke needs to eat something." He ended up saying.

Clarke sighed and rolled her eyes again. "Come on Finn, do you really think we have time for this?" She asked, her eyes almost sending glares.

"Then tell me, what else do we have to do today that is so important?" Finn replied with a faint smile, glancing back at Wells when Clarke simply crossed her arms and glanced away as an answer.

"Sure, I'll see what I can find in the kitchen. And what about you, Collins?" Wells said. "You hungry?"

"I'll be fine, thanks." Finn flashed him a small smile and watched as he left the living room to go in the kitchen.

"I'm a big girl, okay? I don't need to be constantly taken care off." Clarke annoyingly said once Wells was away, before sitting in the stairs.

Finn stared down at her, his arms crossed and a stern look on his face. He wanted to understand why she was refusing his help so much, but in a way her behaving that way only made him want to look over her even more. "Yeah, but I'm sure Wells will be telling you the same thing when he'll know the entire story." He pointed out. "Look, I just want to make sure you're okay."

She sighed again, this time giving him a small smile. "I'm okay."

"Here, I got you your favourite snack; crackers and cream cheese spread!" Wells said with a joyful tone as he stepped back into the room, holding a plate of cream cheese covered crackers.

Clarke's lips curved apart as she watched Wells, before taking the plate from his hands. "Thank you, it looks delicious." She truthfully told him.

Wells smiled as a reply before eyeing Finn. "So what about you tell me what happened, now?"

 

**_Sunday, 11:04 AM_ **

 

The three of them all sat in the lounge on different couches and chairs, forming a circle. Finn had been telling everything to Wells, except for the part where he caused the death of his little sister. That, he wasn't ready to tell anyone, nor to even think about it.

"Well that's... That's a bit creepy." Wells paused. "I mean, where the hell would your mom have gone, and what about the cars involved in the crash?!" He glanced at Finn. "There's a missing part in your story, Collins, and I hope you're not hiding something from us..."

"Wells, he saved my life." Clarke reminded him, trying to calm down her best friend. Wells had always been very protective with her, he even once admitted feelings for her. As much as she didn't want to hurt him, she had been honest and he understood that their friendship couldn't have gotten anywhere else than what it already was.

"Clarke come on, are you honestly going to believe his story?" Wells replied, his voice raising slowly. "How can you even trust him? You don't know him."

Clarke's fingers clutched her sling lightly, before looking at Finn for a short moment. "You're right, maybe I don't know him. But, I do trust him." This time, she glanced back at Wells. "He took care of me, he helped me. So I don't see why I wouldn't believe at least give him a chance."

As the words escaped her lips, Finn immediately looked at her, feeling his heart twitch slightly. To hear Clarke talk about him this way made him feel slightly better about himself, but the pain was still too recent to give in. When their eyes locked again, he smiled faintly at Clarke, glad that she was on his side.

Wells remained silent for a while, the time to calm down a bit. He was too protective over Clarke and he was aware of that, but he couldn't seem to stop himself to do so. "I'm sorry." He muttered after a moment, releasing a sigh as he glanced at Finn. "Thank you for saving her."

Finn nodded once as a reply, his eyes then trailing down to the floor. "So... What about now?" He asked, referring to the recent catastrophes that had been occurring everywhere around the world. "What do we do?"

"I think we should leave and see if there isn't anyone remaining in town." Clarke started, looking at the two boys. "Meanwhile, we'll also need to find a way to communicate with someone, anyone."

Finn nodded, agreeing with what she said. "And what about we return to the crash site so we can try looking for your mom?" He suggested, his eyes not leaving Clarke's.

Clarke watched him for a while before nodding softly, her lips briefly curving upward. She was so thankful that Finn suggested it. "Yeah... that would be great."

"That's all good but what if there's no one else?" Wells started, getting both Finn and Clarke's attention. "What if... It's only the three of us left in Washington? Because last time I checked, everyone were running away from here."

"Wells don't be ridiculous, there's surely someone else in Washington, it's the capital of America." Clarke tried to reason him.

"Well if it can reassure you, I have a car parked right in front of Clarke's porch." Finn said after a while, clutching the keys in his pocket. "So if there's really no one else here, then we'll be able to leave as well."

Wells shook his head a bit, trying to find anything to say against the plan they had just established. He wanted to help and look around for survivors, but at the same time he was scared that it was already too late and everything he had ever known was over. He was afraid that there were no more hope. He was also very concerned about his father, if he could hope to see him alive again or if he was gone forever.

"Wells, it's going to be okay... I promise." Clarke's sweet voice muttered as she looked at him, a small smile on her lips. A few strands of blonde hair covered a part of her forehead, and Finn couldn't help but think she looked like a fallen angel from the sky.

"If... If you say so." Wells replied after a moment. "But... When would we leave?"

"Right now, we can't afford losing anymore minutes in here while some people could be badly injured somewhere around here." Clarke explained as she got up from her chair. "I'll go pack up some food before we leave." She continued, heading to the kitchen.

"Wait," Finn said as he followed after her, a bit concerned. Once he got in the kitchen, he tried to make her look at him. "Clarke, I think we should wait a few hours before we leave."

"Why would we do that, Finn? We don't know if there's someone needing out help right now." She started, her voice lifting slightly. "Someone could be dying and nobody would be there to help them!" She felt herself pumped, and she wasn't really planning to react that way, but too many things were going on right now and she was so confused about a lot of things. First, the car crash and how she ended up in the middle of the road. Secondly, her mom. She could be alone, emptying herself from her own blood somewhere and Clarke couldn't picture it happening without her rescuing her mom.

"Hey... I'm sure people were smart enough to run away as soon as they saw the storm coming, and Clarke... You need to rest." He paused, watching her with a stern look. "I'm not sure if you remember but less than 24 hours ago you were in a car crash, you hit your head and you dislocated your shoulder."

"I don't care!" She shouted, this time feeling water filling her eyes. She tried to fight it back but right now everything seemed to be too heavy on her shoulders. "I don't care about what happened to me, I just..." Her voice trailed off but she continued to talk. "I need to find her, Finn..." Then, her cheeks heated up and a lump formed in her throat, her eyes avoiding Finn's. She didn't want him to see her that way, breaking down like a little girl.

"I understand." He simply replied, feeling uncomfortable about how he was supposed to react. So instead of saying anything, he started looking around for food, and Clarke soon helped him in silence. She was relieved to see he was giving in, but she did appreciate the fact that he cared about her as much. That he understood her.

It remained silent until Wells stepped in the kitchen to make sure everything was okay. After that, he helped them a bit.

 

_**Sunday, 11:42 AM** _

 

All three of them stood outside of Wells's house, their eyes scanning the surrounding. Everything seemed so dark, and thick smoke covered some areas of the town. The fire from the forest had not stopped but only kept expanding, and the tornado had formed a path through the houses down the street, continuing in the field. Thankfully, it had avoided a few houses, including Clarke's and Wells's. 

"Well this is..." Wells started, dumbfounded by what he was seeing. "This is intense, man."

Finn nodded slightly before allowing his eyes to glance next to him, where Clarke stood. She looked terrorized, her blue eyes seeming hopeless. "Hey, it's going to be okay..." He muttered, hoping that his words would bring her comfort.

As soon as he was done speaking, she turned her head at him, and gave him a thankful look. She couldn't understand why he was like that with her, it was almost as if he felt responsible of her. She wished he wouldn't feel that way, but on another hand, she didn't mind at all. She loved to stare into his eyes, to observe his lips almost curve to a smile when she would look towards him.

Suddenly, the three of them heard a loud sound, the one of a car crashing into something. They heard the sound of glasses breaking, and then a loud scream, which they assumed belonged to a young man.

They all exchanged confused glances before feeling their hearts racing through their chests; _they were not alone._


	5. we don't have the choice to stay

_**Sunday, 11:46 AM** _

 

A look of aghast crossed Clarke's face as she looked toward the place they heard the scream come from. A thick grey smoke slowly began to hover in the air right above the place where the car crashed, making it almost impossible to distinguish it from the smoke that was already there. Without hesitation, she dashed off forward, hoping that it wouldn't have been too late to save the person driving the car.

Finn and Wells quickly followed after her, and soon Finn exceeded her. She was still limping from her own car accident, so it's not like it had been something very hard to do. Once he was close enough to the crash site, he slowed down and glanced at Clarke.

"God dammit!" A masculine voice suddenly yelled from the smoke, followed by many other curse words.

"Are you okay?!" Clarke asked, unconsciously tucking a piece of hair behind her ear. Her eyes were glued onto the only exposed part of the car, which was tinted of a dark navy blue.

"No!" The person yelled again, frustrated. "But a little help would be v-very appreciated!"

Before stepping any further, Finn looked at Clarke, who gave him a small nod. Seconds after seconds the smoke was slowly fading away, and soon, their eyes fell on the face of a young Asian looking boy, whose face was quite familiar to Finn. A small red cut decorated the corner of his forehead, but other than that he didn't seem to have been damaged anywhere else other than his legs, which seemed stuck under the car's dash.

"Monty?" Finn asked with a frown, recognizing the features of one of Jasper's good friends, who would only share chemistry class with him. "What the hell are you doing here?" He asked, and then noticed the white knee length laboratory coat he was wearing. That's only when his eyes spotted the dark red stain covering part of his left side.

Clarke immediately hurried toward the young man and attempted to open the car's door, before looking back at Finn. "You know him?" She asked her brows furrowing even more.

"Finn Collins I s-see," Monty said as he eyed Finn for a while before closing his eyelids in pain.

"Yeah, we share a class and Jasper." Finn paused as he looked at Clarke, and then continued talking when he realized his sentence could've sounded quite suspicious after the look Wells gave him. "I mean, we share the same friend, who is Jasper." 

Clarke nodded slowly before glancing back to Monty.

"I was... I was participating to a s-science exposition at the lab... And then..." Monty informed the small group as he opened his eyes again, which seemed to reflect fear. "T-then the storm s-struck, and somehow we lost p-power, and..." He coughed, now almost out of breath.

"Hey, it's okay, we're going to get you out of here," Clarke gently told him as she covered his shoulder with her hand.

"Y-you must leave now!" Monty continued, his voice lifting out of fear.

Even though the boy's reaction was quite odd, Finn motioned Wells to come closer so he could help him carrying Monty. "We're getting you out of here first."

Clarke simply stood still as she watched the boys, trying to steady her respiration again.

At some point they managed to get Monty out of his car, and then placed him on the asphalt so they could observe the state of his legs. Multiple cuts and scratches decorated his black pants, as if he had been attacked by some sort of wild animal. "T-they attacked me..." Monty whispered as his eyes filled with water, his body almost trembling.

"Who did?" With a frown, Clarke carefully brushed the wet hair covering the boy's forehead. She also noticed the large red stain on his side.

"The p-power was out, and..." Monty was almost struggling to take another breath, as the air would barely fill his lungs by themselves. He coughed violently in his sleeve, and when he pulled away, both the corner of his lips and his sleeve were coloured of red stains. His situation was only getting worse and as much as she had been living with a doctor all her life, Clarke couldn't understand what was happening to him.

"He needs care," Finn pointed out as he looked at Clarke, concerned. "Medical cares." He specified.

"But, we don't have that..." Wells replied as he held Monty's upper half so the boy wouldn't choke in his own blood. "This is most likely like a ghost town, now..." He said, his eyes slowly looking all around them.

Clarke looked away from Finn's eyes, feeling like everything was too heavy to bear on her own shoulders. She knew everyone always looked up to her in those kind of situations, where everyone needed a leader. At school it was always the same in team projects; her friends considered her as their leader. But in all honestly, she really didn't feel like being the leader all the time, and sometime she just wished she could run away from everything, to free herself from the weight of this leadership she never asked for.

Of course, Finn's eyes didn't leave her face. He watched as she looked away, and noticed the evident struggle washing over her features. "Clarke, we're going to find a way together, okay?" He told her, once again hoping to reassure her.

She simply nodded, allowing her eyes to stare back in his. "I think we should take him to my house, I know where my mom kept all of her medical equipments." She said, with a sort of new confidence in her voice she had found after hearing Finn's words.

They all agreed, and both Finn and Wells carried Monty into Clarke's house.

 

**_Sunday, 12:07 PM_ **

 

Wells and Finn had placed Monty on the couch, while Clarke went further in her house to find the medical equipments she was talking about. A lot of things were going on her mind, but she mostly tried to only focus on Monty and nothing else. Although she also kept thinking about Finn, and how he was always there to comfort her when she felt hopeless. She wondered why he had never talked to her before at school, but quickly washed these thoughts away and replaced them with the memory of her mom explaining her how to clean infected wounds.

When she got back in the lounge, Finn walked further to help her carrying the equipments down on the table next to the couch. "Thanks," she muttered with a small smile as their eyes locked. "Monty?" She then asked as she looked down to the boy, gently stroking his hair again. He barely opened his eyes as he heard Clarke's voice, and breathing seemed like a struggle for him.

"He doesn't look really good..." Wells muttered as he stood next to Clarke, his arms crossed.

"Could you pick up some blankets from the bathroom? I don't wanna mess the couch." Clarke asked with a sigh before glancing at her friend. She didn't appreciate his negativity, and he seemed to have a lot to spread in time like those.

With a small nod, Wells walked out of the room, heading straight to the bathroom.

"Can I do anything?" Finn then asked, wanting to busy himself with something so he wouldn't have to think.

"We're going to have to take his blouse off so I can look at the wound on his side. It seems like the biggest wound; the others on his legs can wait." She explained before trailing her eyes up to Finn's face, who was already staring at her. "I suppose for now you can just talk to him while I check him up," she continued, breaking their gaze.

"Yeah, I guess I can do that." Finn told her before pulling a chair closer to the couch so it would've been easier to talk to Monty. When he sat on it, he exhaled deeply and ruffled his own hair before landing his eyes on the boy's face, whose features began to stir as soon as Clarke's fingers started to unbutton his blouse. "Hey, Monty?" Finn started with a calm voice. "Remember this year at Jasper's birthday party? You know, when he managed to get Octavia Blake to come over?"

When Clarke finished to unbutton the blouse, she carefully pulled his arms out of the sleeves before looking down to his exposed wound, which was rated large and seemed quite deep. She breathed deeply and closed her eyes, attempting to calm down. Finn's voice was so sweet, and the way he was telling his story was really comforting. She smiled a bit as he continued talking, telling Monty about how that day, Octavia had kissed Jasper and how Maya had been pissed off for days. Of course, Clarke had heard that story before a hundredth time by Maya, but never the way of how Finn was telling it. And in all honestly, it was quite hilarious. He explained every drunk pranks Monty and Jasper had done that night, and how hungover they had been the following day.

Meanwhile, Wells had returned to the room with the pile of blankets and him and Clarke carefully placed them under the boy. He had also brought a bowl of water and a washcloth to clean the wounds.

After some minutes, Finn was done with his story, and Monty seemed quite relaxed. Clarke allowed a light smile to cover her lips when she looked at Finn, before looking back to the wound. She assumed it was a bite of something, but no animals in Washington, D.C. were big enough to leave something as huge as the wound on Monty's skin. However, the marks of sharp teeth were left on the skin, forming the shape of an animal's mouth.

"That looks like a dog bite," Finn pointed out. He recalled how in scout camps they had learned about the different bites they could receive from animals and how to disinfect them. "Except it would have to be an enormous dog, and we obviously don't have that here..."

"That's what I was thinking too..." Clarke muttered as she stared at Monty's face. She then recalled earlier when they pulled him out of the car, how terrified he looked. He seemed to know something, but he never got to tell them what it was, as they didn't let him the chance to finish. "He knows what happened... He... He _saw_ something." She said, questions building up in her mind.

"What are you implying?" Finn asked, his brows furrowing.

"I... I don't know... But there's something off about this. We need to talk to him." Clarke replied, keeping her eyes on the boy. "I'm going to disinfect his wound, and then we'll wait until he gets better."

He nodded, crossing his arms. "Sounds like a plan."

"And what if he doesn't get better?" Wells asked, his arms crossed as well.

Clarke shot him a glare before exhaling deeply, glancing away. "You could at least try to be a little bit more optimistic."

"I meant to say, what happens meanwhile?" Wells continued, hoping that he didn't screw up too much. "While we're waiting for him to get better, what do we do?"

"You guys could take some rest while I'll be on watch, making sure everything is alright." Finn replied as he eyed both Wells and Clarke.

"What about you?" Clarke asked, her brows furrowing. "When will you sleep?"

Finn sighed slightly before looking to Monty, letting his mind wander to the most painful memories. "I'm not tired, I'm... I'm okay." He forced a smile as he glanced at Clarke, their eyes locking for a while.

She could pierce the pain hidden behind his eyes, and she wanted to understand what had been happening to someone as sweet and caring as Finn, to make him as broken and desperate as he looked now. But she wanted to help him, and she was going to find a way to do that.


	6. strange things did happen here

_**Sunday, 2:07 PM** _

 

Finn sat in the bay window in the lounge of Clarke's house, his eyes looking at the horizon. The forest facing the house had practically entirely been ravaged, and the trees that would still stand were partially burnt and covered of ashes. The fire had continued its trail further down in the forest, and now only faint flames and glowing ashes remained in the dirt covering the ground. It was actually really heartbreaking to observe, and he wondered when it would finally rain to stop the fire. He also wondered if it was like that everywhere else in the world, if there was anyone else alive somewhere in Washington, waiting to be saved. Maybe there were other survivors like them who were wondering the same thing. But now they had to stay here, for another few hours at least.

Monty seemed to be alright, but sometime he would start shaking a bit, and would mutter incoherent things. Of course, Clarke didn't leave his side even after she was done cleaning his wounds. She wanted to be there when he would wake up, and even though Finn had told her that she could rest and he would watch, she wouldn't listen to him.

But from the window where he sat, he watched as her eyelids closed and then flew open again, not allowing herself to fall asleep. It was obvious that she needed to sleep.

Wells leaned down on one of the couches across the room, his eyes closed; he seemed sound asleep.

After a while, Finn balanced his legs off the bay window and stepped further into the room, toward the couch where Monty laid and the chair where Clarke desperately tried to stay awake. His lips curved to a smile as he watched her eyelids close again for the hundredth time in less that one hour. When he got close enough, he carefully placed his hand on top of her shoulder and looked down into her eyes, wanting to obtain her attention. "Hey," he muttered as their eyes locked.

Clarke jolted up a bit as she felt Finn's arm on her shoulder; she wasn't expecting him to be there. She sighed longly before running her fingers across her hair, struggling to hold in a yawn. "Hey." She replied.

"You gotta rest yourself a bit now, I think you've done enough for today." He told her, smiling weakly.

Clarke immediately shook her head. "No, I can't do that. I need to stay awake to-"

This time, Finn gripped her arm with his hand and gently forced her up from the chair. She didn't really try to pull away as she felt drained from all energy. Once she was up, she stared up to his eyes, a frown covering her features. "Alright, now do you need me to lead you to your bedroom or you're enough of a big girl to do that by yourself?" Finn asked with a grin, his eyes not leaving hers.

Clarke released an annoyed sigh before freeing herself from his grip and broke their gaze. "If I'm going to sleep, it certainly won't be upstairs. I'll be too far when Monty wakes up." She stepped toward a comfy looking padded sofa and crumbled down in it, her eyes still not leaving Monty. She felt really tired, but she didn't want to give in yet.

"Clarke, let go." Finn told her, his arms crossed.

Eventually, she gave in. Tiredness overwhelmed her entire self and she couldn't really hold in any longer. But she trusted Finn, and maybe after all he was right and that sleeping a bit wouldn't hurt her.

Finn couldn't help but felt his lips tug apart again as her eyes closed for good, this time observing her chest moving to a slow and peaceful pace, hinting that she was beginning to relax. Finally, he made her sleep.

 

_**Sunday,** **5:50 PM** _

 

Finn's eyes flew open and found himself almost in tears, sweat covering his forehead. Cassie was there running across the fields, and the next minute she was laying in the middle of the road, a puddle of blood expanding around her small body. He would see it happen over and over again, and he didn't know for how long he would have been able to handle it.

He rubbed his face as he glanced around, realizing that he was still in the bay window before finding everyone laying at the same place than when he last closed his eyes. He didn't mean to fall asleep, but it just happened. He didn't even want to close his eyes ever again in fear of seeing again the horrors haunting his mind.

After a moment, his heart found a normal pace and he managed to calm down. That's when he found Clarke's eyes staring at him; she wasn't sleeping anymore. A small wave of shame went through him, hoping that she didn't notice anything about what just happened.

As soon as he glanced away, Clarke tilted her head. She was concerned about him, and she was going to try and help him. "Finn, are you alright?" She asked, trying to get his eyes to look at her again.

He exhaled deeply before getting off the window and sitting on the floor, leaning his back against the wall. "Yeah, yeah I'm fine I just fell asleep and I got confused on how the hell that happened." He scoffed.

This time, Clarke stood from her seat and stepped further in his direction. "Can I?" She asked as she glanced down to the spot next to him, hoping that he would let her sit with him.

He nodded before leaning his arms on his inclined and parted knees.

She sat next to him, glad that he let her and leaned her back on the wall as well. She kept her eyes in front of her, not wanting to intrude his privacy too much. "I've been awake for a while, by the way." She simply informed him, and Finn immediately knew that she had been watching him since way before he roused up from his nightmare.

"Oh, you were?" He asked, hoping to find a way out of this conversation.

"Look, you want to keep things to yourself, I get that and it's okay. But... Just so you know, it's never good to deal with our demons by ourselves." Clarke explained as she side glanced at him, inclining her legs as well.

Finn simply nodded, staring at the couch in front of them. He appreciated that, but he wasn't ready to talk about what happened with anyone. It was still too painful, and anyways he didn't really believe anyone could've helped him.

Clarke's eyes then flew to his fingernails, which had dried blood stuck under, before trailing her eyes up to his sleeves which were also partially covered of dried blood. She frowned before grabbing one of his hand so she could've observed it closer. And then, she tried recalling everything that had been happening today, to find where he could've been in contact with blood as much. But nothing would come up to her mind, so she could only assume it was something that happened before they met. "What... What happened?" She hesitantly asked as she looked to his face, this time even more concerned than before. When she received no answers from him, she tried to steady her heartbeats. "Finn... I just want the truth."

Finn felt a lump forming in his throat as he heard Clarke's words. He swallowed hard before attempting to pull his hand away from hers but then felt her fingers close around it, stopping him from moving any further. His eyes that were glued on their hands eventually made their way to hers, getting lost for a short moment in the blue ocean colour of her eyes. "The truth is... It's not something you want to hear, or something I want to talk about." He paused as he glanced away, stopping the water to fill his eyes. "I just..." He trailed off, feeling his throat squeezing in pain and his cheeks heating up.

Clarke's fingers squeezed tighter around his hand, her eyes not leaving his face. She hated to see him in pain, after everything he had been trying to do to make her feel better. She knew that he didn't deserve this, no matter what he did. "Hey... It's okay, we don't have to talk about this now." She gently told him, before feeling his fingers close around hers. Her heart clenched at the contact, but for some reasons she enjoyed feeling his skin on hers. They stared at each other in silence, enjoying the other's company. They didn't feel like they had to speak, and the silence did not even feel awkward. It was just relaxing, and after a while, Finn even managed to find his mind at peace for a few seconds.

At some point, his eyes trailed to the bandage covering her forehead. "Does it still hurt?" He asked.

"I didn't really have time to think about it since it happened but... If I'm being honest, it does hurt, but only a little." Clarke truthfully answered.

Finn nodded a little. "Can I check it up?" He asked as he let go of her hand, motioning to her forehead.

She smiled softly. "Sure."

Both Finn's hands immediately reached up to the bandage and slowly started to pull it off, revealing a dark stain of blood covering the white bandage. He then observed her wound which wasn't that big, but quite deep. He had thought about stitching it before, but he didn't had the equipment back then, plus he didn't want to do something wrong and hurt her.

"Does it look bad?" Clarke asked after a while, breaking the silence.

"It's nothing too big, but... I think you'll need to stitch it." Finn replied, his eyes glued on her wound.

"Or... You could do it." She suggested, trusting him enough for that.

Finn scoffed lightly as he completely pulled the bandage off and looked into her eyes. "A plan to make it worse," he answered. "But if you want me to, then I will."

Clarke sighed lightly, unsure of what she was going to do. She could survive without closing the wound, but she was also aware of the damage it could do if it would infect. "Well, you-"

Suddenly, they heard Monty coughing, which brought them back to reality.

"He's waking up!" Clarke exclaimed as she hurried toward the couch where Monty laid. As soon as she got there, hers and Monty's dark brown eyes locked, the same than earlier fear showing in his eyes. "How are you feeling?" She hastened to ask.

Monty exhaled deeply before glancing down to the large bandage covering his side, which Clarke had placed a few hours ago to stop the blood to flow. "I... I... I don't know..." He stuttered as his eyes filled with water, releasing a faint cry.

Finn frowned as he stepped closer to them, and placed a comforting hand on the boy's shoulder. He shot Clarke a small glance before trailing his eyes back on the boy, rather concerned. "Monty, hey, it's okay..." He said, not wanting to rush him into saying anything.

"I... I'm...." Monty stuttered again; he truly seemed terrorized.

"Monty, it's okay, nobody's pressuring you..." Clarke said with a sweet voice, gently stroking the skin of his arm.

After a few seconds, Monty seemed to have calmed down lightly, and his respiration had steadied a bit. "I... I didn't m-mean it to happen..." He began, his voice shaking.

"What... What are you talking about?" Clarke asked, concerns growing in her voice.

"We weren't supposed t-to leave the lab... It was too risky for them t-to escape..." Tears spilled from his eyes as he tried to speak. "But I was too s-scared... I couldn't do it..."

Finn exchanged worried glances with Clarke before staring straight into Monty's eyes, his brows furrowing. "Them?"

The boy nodded slowly as another sob escaped his mouth. "But I c-can't talk about that, no... no I can't... They made me p-promise."

Clarke exhaled deeply before closing her eyes, trying to remain calm. "Monty, it's okay, you can tell us." She paused, "we just wanna help you, alright?" When the boy nodded, she continued to speak. "We need to know who did this to you," she asked, pointing to the large wound on his side. "Can you tell us that?"

Before opening his mouth to talk, Monty closed his eyes and breathed in deeply, managing to calm himself down again. He was scared of so many things, but he knew Finn, and he knew he could trust him. "A few y-years ago, the army asked the s-science researches and health department of t-the University of Washington to test a new serum t-they had come up with. It was designed to make a dog's IQ higher than t-the average, and would've been used only in the army, for the dogs they were t-training as the assistant-soldiers. But they needed to make sure it didn't have any negative effects, so we had to test it first on normal d-dogs. But... A few hours after the injection, all the dogs that had received went c-crazy and almost uncontrollable... so the university had to lock them up in cages at t-the lab, which isn't directly connected to the school. We... We were supposed to get rid of t-them and burn the serum yesterday, b-but that's when the storm struck, and that's also when we lost p-power at the lab... As the doors of every cages were systematically locked with computers, once we lost c-current, all the doors opened and the animals were free, running wild in their ward. But then..." He paused, steadying his respiration again. "They somehow found a way out, and t-they started attacking people. The chief scientist ordered everyone at the exposition to s-stay inside and keep every doors leading outside closed, so the dogs wouldn't escape. B-But everyone panicked, and nobody really listened... I... I didn't mean to... But I c-couldn't do it... I couldn't stay there and die... I was such a coward." He continued, almost whispering. "When a few of us escaped, I found myself alone outside, and just b-before I could reach my car, I got attacked by three of t-them. They scratched my legs and bit my skin, but I somehow managed to g-get in my car and drive away from this p-place..." This time, his face melted in tears and his cheeks turned bright red. He felt so ashamed for what happened, what he did back then. Now because of him and because of other people too, the experiments were free and could be anywhere.

After Finn and Clarke exchanged more confused and terrorized glances, Clarke glued her eyes back on Monty's face. "Hey, shhh..." She muttered as she placed her hand on his shoulder as well, feeling Finn's warm fingers stroking hers as his hand was already there. She didn't look at him but kept her eyes in Monty's, trying to create a sentence in her mind. "Are the..." She swallowed thickly, fearing to ask her question. "Are the bites dangerous?" Worries and insecurity filled her voice; she feared the answer.

As Finn pulled his hand away from the boy's shoulder, Monty's eyes looked down, and Clarke then knew the answer before he could even speak. "A b-bite from those dogs were supposed to make the person receiving it die within the next... The next 24 hours..." He admitted as a wince came across his face, after feeling a sharp pain from his wound.

"What?" Finn frowned at the answer, shocked. "We're not letting you die... There must be an antidote or something-"

"T-There is, but I'm not gonna risk your lives to s-save mine. I... I don't deserve it..." Monty replied, carefully clutching the bandage covering his side.

"Monty, what happened wasn't your fault." Clarke started, staring at him. "You were scared, and fear is a normal emotion for us, humankind. You thought about saving your life like everyone else in that lab, and you simply took the chance to get away when you saw it... But it wasn't, and it never will be your fault."

As she spoke, Finn's eyes immediately moved on her face, analyzing every words she had just said.

"The things that we've done to survive don't define us." She continued, this time looking at Finn as she spoke the last words, feeling that not only Monty needed to hear that.

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys! So this is my very first AU fanfiction, I hope you'll love it! By the way, the title of this chapter has been inspired from the Green Day song, Last Night On Earth.
> 
> The first chapter was kinda long so I could give you all an introduction, but the next ones should be shorter. Also, yes this is a Flarke fanfiction, and worry not I'll introduce Finn next chapter ;)
> 
> The original version of this story was published on Wattpad as well, and I am the author of both works. I wanted to publish a version on here too because this story is probably going to have smut in it at some point, and I wasn't going to put these parts on Wattpad where many people I know read my story. 
> 
> Leave me feedbacks or suggestions for this story, I'm excited to see what you'll think about it!!
> 
> Thank you so much for reading! xox


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